Devil's Advocate

Entries with the tag: adam henrique

Well, its finally back. There is no use crying over lost time, so here are some news, notes and quotes since the news broke the lockout ended in NJ.

Petr Sykora, who played for the Devils last season, is hoping to be invited back to Devils camp again after his contract expired after the previous season. If you remember, Sykora entered the training camp last year and was originally expected to be a long shot to make the team. Not only did he make the team, he contributed 21 goals and 23 assists.

The dust is settled, Zach Parise, captain of the New Jersey Devils, has officially gone home to play hockey with the Minnesota Wild. You can’t blame the guy for wanting to go home and play in front of his family. It’s a decision that a lot of hockey players wish they had the opportunity to make, but it never arises. There is no reason for Parise to become a villain in New Jersey. But with his departure, the Devils are left without a captain. Who will be the player to step in as captain and try to continue to push the success that the team experienced last year?

Beginning tonight the New Jersey Devils and the New York Rangers will begin a seven game series to determine who will be representing the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup Finals. Both teams have had to overcome a great deal of adversity to get to this point, and with the Stanley Cup being so close, it is nothing less then heartbreak to have to go home at the conclusion of the series.

The momentum in the Devils/Panthers series ping-ponged back and forth seemingly every game. However, in the decisive final game, the Devils were the one skating victorious. Adam Henrique’s double-overtime goal gave the Devils a 3-2 win and 4-3 series victory.

The Bruins came to the Prudential Center about two weeks ago and unloaded every container of ammunition they seemed to have on them. The Devils were embarrassed on their home ice with the game finishing a very lopsided 6-1. In that game, the Devils were careless with the puck, forgot how to backcheck and never had their legs underneath them after the horn sounded to end the first period. With so many holes to try to plug, the Bruins walked all over the Devils and Martin Brodeur, who had a forgetful outing.

For the time being forget Patrik Elias, Ilya Kovalchuk and Zach Parise. Year in and year out, Devils fans expect these three individuals to perform to the best of their abilities every game. Their season point totals should always hover above 80 points, and if they don’t, we all have something to say. However, there has been someone added to the team this year who has exceeded almost everyones expectations, and his name is Adam Henrique.

I suppose it took a 6-1 trouncing by the Boston Bruins for the Devils to finally open their eyes. Over these past couple of games, the Devils have been playing a dominant style of hockey consisting of three equal parts: strong offense, shut-down defense and solid goaltending.

The Devils have defeated the Florida Panthers (5-2) and the Pittsburgh Penguins (3-1) in back-to-back games and have shown no sign of wear and tear.

On their way to a 5-4 victory last night, the New Jersey Devils were led by strong performances on the ice by Zach Parise and Adam Henrique. The see-saw battle came down to the final minutes, where the Lightning forced a fair amount of pressure in trying to sneak in and force overtime. Parise and Henrique both finished the night with a goal and two assists.

“It was fun. Ideally we’d like to be able to put the clamps down at the end and shut them down a little better,” Parise said to Rich Chere of the Star Ledger. “We’ll have to keep talking about that and keep working on that. We have to do a better job of putting teams out of it when we have the lead.”

There is no other way to word it other then to say that the Devils have been horrible these past couples weeks. After loses against the Islanders, Wild, Avalanche and Jets, the Devils morale is literally down in the dumps. To make matters worse, Devils beat reporter Rich Chere provided these alarming statistics over their most recent trip.

Even though the Devils fell to the Rangers in the waning minutes, there were many positives signs to take out of this game.

The play of Adam Larsson, Adam Henrique, Ilya Kovalchuk, Jacob Josefson and the rest of the Devils left a sign of things to come on the ice. The play was physical, quick and made the Devils look like a really impressive hockey team. Unfortunately, the Rangers came back with a good gang of guys tonight on the ice at The Rock, and were able to snag the victory with time winding down in the third.